Retail products, for example food products, are commonly packaged in containers such as plastic or cardboard boxes, bottles, pots, or any other kind of packaging. To ease handling of a certain number of products, whether or not they are individually pre-packaged, said products may be held together in a plastic film.
For example, mineral or source water is commonly sold in bottles of various shapes and volumes (for example 1.5 liters), grouped in the form of a pack, e.g. a six pack. The pack of bottles is formed by holding the bottles together in a plastic film. Usually, a heat shrinkable film is used. In this case, the film is positioned around the bottles and then shrunk to bind said bottles in a dedicated oven. According to another process, the bottles may be bound by wrapping in a stretchable plastic film, such as stretch wrap material, making one or several turns around the bottles. Of course, packs may be formed in the same way for almost any product, whether or not individually pre-packaged, such as cereal boxes, beverage cans, tin cans, toilet paper rolls, and so on.
Handling so formed packs is a known difficulty, especially when the packs are large or heavy. To help people, e.g. customers, to carry such a pack, it is known to provide the pack with a handle. The handle is generally made of a plastic or paper strip taped onto the pack. Optionally, foam may be added to the plastic strip for more comfortable handling.
This way of providing a handle has drawbacks. First, when a pack is produced, separate handles have to be provided to be attached to the packs. This implies a supply chain of dedicated logistic means, and/or machines to cut the handles from a strip, add an adhesive layer to the strip and attach the strip to the pack to form a handle. Implementation of these steps in an industrial production process takes time and has a significant cost.
In addition, while such an adhesive handle is generally adequate, it sometimes may break or may tear the plastic film around the pack (i.e. the shrunk thermoplastic film or the wrapped stretchable plastic film). Indeed, adhesion of the handle to the pack is provided over a quite small area or contact surface, having to bear the whole weight of the pack. Thus adhesion of the handle on the film pack is critical due to the small contact surface between the handle and the rest of the pack, and, for the same reason, the strength of the handle and the strength of the plastic film of the pack in the area where they are in contact is critical too.
It is therefore an objective of the present invention to provide a manufacturing process and device for a pack of products optimizing the handling of a pack of products, particularly when the pack is form by wrapping a stretchable plastic film around the products. Said optimization may relate among other to ease of handling, and/or reliability, and/or production cost.